After focusing on abortion, rather than jobs, Boehner criticizes Obama for focusing on marriage, rather than jobs

Call for hands. Everyone in elected office who passed legislation creating 1m to 3.5m jobs over the past two years raise your hands? Come on, don’t be shy, Mr. Boehner. Now, anyone who has moved on legislation to create jobs since becoming Speaker raise your hands – yes, Speaker Pelosi, we see you over there, but Mr. Boehner, again no show of hands?

That’s right. John Boehner hasn’t done squat for creating jobs, but now is criticizing the President for finally acknowledging that DOMA is unconstitutional – arguing that the President should be focusing on jobs.

Then again, you can’t blame Boehner: He’s used to GOP presidents and presidential candidates who are either too old (Reagan, McCain) or too stupid (W Bush, Palin) to walk and chew gum at the same time.

‘While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation,’ said spokesman Brendan Buck.”

I will say that, rather than blasting gay marriage outright, Boehner is actually taking quite a careful middle of the road position – he’s criticizing Obama on jobs rather than criticizing Obama for loving the homos. That’s rather significant, and show how even the far-right leadership of the GOP is worried that the gay-card may no longer be playable. The religious right is not going to be happy with Boehner over this cave.

So, while Boehner is busy talking about how we shouldn’t focus on social issues at the expense of jobs, let’s look at how Boehner did just that in the past few weeks:

Despite GOP Leaders’ Previous Claims That Economic Issues Were Their Main Focus, House Speaker John Boehner Said Banning Federal Funding For Elective Abortions Was “One Of Our Highest Legislative Priorities.”

“House Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday that the House of Representatives will consider legislation to permanently bar federal funding for elective abortions, calling the measure ‘one of our highest legislative priorities.’ ‘A ban on taxpayer funding of abortions is the will of the people and it ought to be the will of the land,’ Boehner said at his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. Asked why House Republicans were making the social issue a top priority when GOP leaders have repeatedly said economic issues were their main focus, Boehner said he’s making good on a promise Republicans made last year. ‘Our members feel strongly about the sanctity of human life. We listened to the American people, we made a commitment to the American people in our Pledge to America and we’re continuing to fulfill our commitment.’” [CNN, 1/20/11]

Just Weeks Into 112th Congress, House Republicans Introduced Legislation To Defund Planned Parenthood And Strip Citizenship From Babies Born To Undocumented Immigrants.

“Just weeks into the 112th Congress, conservatives have already started to introduce legislation. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) introduced a bill in that would cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortions. Rep. Steve King said he thinks Republicans, back in the majority after four years, need to think bigger…King said he would like to expand Pence’s legislation to ban federal funding to any organization — not just Planned Parenthood — that conducts abortions or provides counseling on abortion. For his part, King has already introduced a measure that would end the practice of automatically granting American citizenship to babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants. He is also gathering signatures for a bill that he plans to reintroduce that would make English the country’s official language.” [Roll Call, 1/31/11]

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the former editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown (1989); and worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. Frequent TV pundit: O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Bio, article archive.